Marriage

As suggested by the title, Marriage is a play that entertains audiences with the escapades of the cast members. While marriage should be a sacred pact between two individuals, the comedy of this play lies in the “trouble” that stems from remaining faithful within a marriage. The five acts of the play follow Mudgeon, John Persimmons, Silas Auldjo, Walter, Rosalie, Fanny and their companions as farces and relations are revealed. The audience is taken through the marriage of Archibald and Fanny, which is soon followed by unraveling of families. This unraveling only comes to a conclusion at the end of the play, with the characters gathering to declare that the most important thing in a man’s life is his woman, and that man’s first duty in the world is marriage.

Used as the opening play for the 1877 season at Wallack’s theater, Marriage opened on a Monday night, October 1st. The cast of Marriage included John Gilbert, E.M Holland, H.J Montague, H. Beckett, Rose Coghlan, Stella Boniface and Effie Germon. Critics from multiple revenues reviewed the play as suffering from its long length - five acts in total. Though the play started in the evening, the “final ring-down was not until after midnight.” The play, though well advertised and promising, failed due to scathing reviews and only ran for a month. The last performance of Marriage took place at Wallack’s Theatre on November 10th, 1877.